897 Returns of employees’ emoluments, etc

Summary

This section grants an inspector power to obtain information from employers with regard to payments made by them to their employees and which may constitute or include assessable income in the hands of the recipients.

An employer must give, as respects his/her employees, details not only of remuneration in the ordinary sense, such as salary and wages, but also details of expenses payments, etc.

Details

(1)(a) References to payments made to persons in respect of employment or in respect of remuneration also includes references to —

• payments made to employees in respect of expenses,
• payments made to employees which are not repaid by them, and
• payments to employees in a trade or business for services rendered in connection with that trade or business.

(1)(b) References to expenses payments include sums put at the disposal of an employee and used by him/her.

(2) Every employer, when required to do so by an inspector, is to submit a return containing —

• the name and address of all employees,
• details of any car provided by the employer,
• details of preferential loans made, released or written off (and also details of any preferential loan interest released, written off or refunded),
• details of scholarship payments,
• details of payments made to employees in respect of an employment (however, a return need not be made in respect of those employees whose income is less than €1,905 in the year).

(6) Where the employer is a body of persons, the secretary (or any person acting as secretary) is treated as the employer and any director or person engaged in the management of a body corporate is treated as an employee.

Where the employer is a body corporate (including a company), that body corporate as well as the secretary or other officer acting as secretary is liable to penalties for failure to make a return under this section.

Where an employee is, in the opinion of the Revenue Commissioners, totally exempt form tax, penalties are not imposed for failure to include that employee in the return to be made under this section.

Where an employer apportions expenses payments in relation to different matters, the return must indicate that the figure returned for any employee is an apportioned amount. If requested to do so by the inspector, the employer must give details of the apportionment and the method used to arrive at the apportioned figure.

If the inspector is dissatisfied with any apportionment, he/she may, for the purposes of an assessment, apportion the expenses. However, in this instance, the employer may, within 21 days appeal the inspector’s apportionment.

(7) Such appeal is heard as if it were an appeal against an assessment.

Relevant Date: Finance Act 2019